I am fully convinced now. I have been looking for evidence and now i have found it; few months ago. Its just i am buying time to write it down.

Initially i disturbed that almost everyone i met in the management rant about today’s graduates and workforce lack thinking skills. They lambasted them for being clueless and ‘like chicken no-head’ when it comes to problem solving and creative solutions. Of course they are and surprisingly the management was equally clueless how to solve this perennial problem.

Guess what? I have found the answers. Thinking needs re-thinking.

In the beginning i am curious why a children can generate many ‘creative solutions’ but as we become grown ups we stuck up? It’s just illogical right?

Not really, this is where it needs re-thinking. They are two major findings here. Let me explain how we can accelerate thinking skills for our current workforce.

Firstly, teach them thinking skills and tools. Seriously, SWOT is a thinking tool that helps us to see a problem in a SWOT manner. I bet some of you dont know what SWOT is. People that understand SWOT would have this simple thought process when approaching problems.

Next tool is WDYM; What Do You Mean is a great tool to question any statement and uncover the gist of things. Ask this several times you will get to the bottom of any issue. The best part you will only stop once you reach an agreement of the thing you WDYM about.

Other tool is Sweeper; where you generate all the bad stuffs and sweep it under carpet. This could help you and your team find ways to find loopholes and anticipate the consequences. It is also helping you to prioritize imperfections while trying hard to perfecting something.

See, with tools you actually start thinking. I bet with practice you will create the new neural network in your brain on how to think (including your workforce).

Secondly, provide ‘open playground’ to express ideas. Opening up a playground always excites me. I once told my boss, if you want to see my play and soar, open the playground. I soared and fly as the top salesperson.

The idea of ‘open playground’ is to allow mistakes to happen and provide support for your team or workforce to fall back on.

It is important for building better confidence and learning. Person responsible for this are the leaders and bosses. Often we get so stuck up and we forget to build other leaders and thinkers. Doers alone are not enough, we need thinkers at the same time.

In conclusion, my two major findings probably are nothing new to you however our ability to put it to practice and continuously asessing its effectiveness would garner new outcomes to your organization.

I strongly feel we are able to create a truly different results (better long term achievements) when we start thinking and leading at the same time. Certainly, if we fail, thus our thinking needs re-thinking.

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